Allawi plans to seek prime minister post

CARYLE MURPHY, Washington Post |
February 24, 2005

BAGHDAD, IRAQ - Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi announced Wednesday that he would seek to lead the country's next government, and a Kurdish politician said Kurds would demand "commitments" about civil liberties, federalism and the role of religion in government before supporting any candidate for the post.

The comments indicated that al-Jaafari's selection did not mark the end of the hotly contested and intricately negotiated political maneuvering that has followed Iraq's Jan. 30 elections.

In the latest violence, a car bomb exploded near police headquarters in the Iraqi city of Tikrit today, killing at least 10 people, witnesses said.

More than a dozen cars were set ablaze after the massive blast.

Under the country's interim constitution, the newly elected 275-seat National Assembly will choose a president and two deputy presidents who will name a prime minister. But the occupants of those posts probably will be chosen beforehand in backroom dealings among the major political parties.

A spokesman for Allawi, a secular Shiite politician, had said Monday that he would be a candidate for prime minister, the position he has held for eight months in the outgoing interim government. On Wednesday, Allawi made it official, announcing the formation of a coalition to back his bid for the job. He declined to specify his coalition partners.

Asked if he was concerned about the religious orientation of al-Jaafari, who is one of the interim government's two vice presidents, Allawi replied that al-Jaafari was "an honorable man and a good brother."

But, Allawi said, "we are liberal powers, and we believe in liberal Iraq and not Iraq governed by political Islamists."